1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a rack that is mounted within an oven cavity wherein the rack has a maximum lateral dimension which is substantially less than the width of the oven cavity and is directly supported by the oven cavity.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Ovens designed for household use in today's marketplace are generally provided with multiple elongated racks, each of which has a lateral dimension substantially equal to the width of the oven cavity in which it is adapted to be placed for supporting items to be cooked. The cavity itself is generally provided with side wall runners for supporting respective lateral ends of the racks and permitting vertical adjustability of the racks.
It is often the case that multiple items need to be cooked simultaneously within an oven and the height of at least one of the items is such that only a single rack can be accommodated within the oven cavity. In other words, even if the two racks are spaced vertically a maximum permissible distance within the oven cavity, the item to be cooked could not be placed upon the lower rack due to interference by the upper rack. Under such circumstances, the upper rack must be entirely removed from the oven cavity, thereby leaving only the single rack to support each of the items to be cooked. Unfortunately, this obviously limits the available supporting area for the various items to be cooked.
For this and other reasons, it has been proposed in the art to mount additional food support structure, which does not extend entirely across the width of the oven cavity, from the elongated rack itself. An example of such an apparatus is the broiler system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,266,484. Unfortunately, such an arrangement has various associated drawbacks. For instance, suspending a partial width food support structure beneath an elongated rack requires that the rack be placed at a substantially high elevational position within the oven cavity. This is undesirable, particularly for baking purposes, where it is desirable to have the majority of the cooking surface at a lower position. Another drawback is that the partial width food support structure is always moved relative to the oven cavity commensurate with the elongated rack. Therefore, the elongated rack cannot be repositioned without simultaneously repositioning the partial width food support structure and vise-versa. In addition, as many known elongated racks are slidably mounted within oven cavities, the additional weight of the partial width food support structure and the items to be cooked thereon makes sliding of the elongated rack more difficult and potentially hazardous as the potential for movement of multiple items being cooked must be accounted for.
Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a partial width food support arrangement for use in an oven cavity which does not exhibit the drawbacks associated with the known prior art. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rack for use in the cavity of an oven wherein the rack has a maximum lateral dimension which is substantially less than the width of the oven cavity. It is also an object of the invention to provide a partial width oven rack that is directly supported by the oven cavity, independent of any other food item supporting rack positioned in the cavity.